Cestria House Residential Home

Updated 15 February 2022

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

As part of CQC’s response to care homes with outbreaks of COVID-19, we are conducting reviews to ensure that the Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) practice is safe and that services are compliant with IPC measures. We also received some information of concern about infection prevention and control measures at this service. This was a targeted inspection looking at the IPC measures and practices the provider has in place. We also asked the provider about any staffing pressures the service was experiencing and whether this was having an impact on the service.

This inspection took place on 28 January 2022 and was announced. We gave the service a short period of notice on the morning of the inspection.

Updated 15 February 2022

About the service

Cestria House Residential Home is a residential care home that at the time of inspection was providing accommodation and personal care to 19 people aged 65 and over. The service can support up to 24 people. Accommodation is provided in single bedrooms over two floors. Most of the rooms have en-suite facilities. The home is located in Jesmond a suburban area north of Newcastle.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People told us they were well cared for and felt safe in the home. They said they were encouraged to maintain their independence whilst being supported to take positive risks to live full and active lives.

Staff had completed safeguarding training and knew the correct action to take to protect people from the risk of abuse. Staff told us there was a regime of openness and transparency in the home and had no concerns about raising any issues with management, including those relating to people's safety.

People received their medicines as prescribed and all aspects of medicines administration and storage were safe. People said they were happy they received their medicines as prescribed. The provider had a system to ensure staff documented any accidents or incidents which had taken place and there was learning from these incidents.

We found the service had not followed safe practices in recording checks made in the recruitment of some staff members. The issues were resolved during the inspection and no one was harmed as a result of this omission. We have made a recommendation about this in the 'safe' section of this report.

Professionals spoke highly of the home and how it supported people with a variety of conditions. They were particularly complimentary around how well the registered manager and staff worked with health care professionals to achieve effective outcomes for people in their care.

The interior of the home was clean and free from malodour. There was an outside area that people could safely access and enjoy.

Staff were well trained and there were enough staff on duty to ensure people were appropriately supported. Staff told us they felt well supported and received regular supervision during which they were able to discuss their professional development.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. The provider had systems to assess and monitor people’s health and nutritional needs.

People told us staff treated them with dignity and were respectful. Our observations supported this and people said they felt listened to and seemed confident in raise any issues.

Care plans contained information on people’s health and communication needs as well as their family background, religious needs and social interests. Activities were initiated and led by the people living in the home around their individual interests and preferences. People attended clubs, associations and centres and staff always provided support to undertake activities. Outings were facilitated by staff consistent with people's suggestions and people were encouraged and supported to continue activities outside the home as well as community involvement.

People living in the home, relatives and members of the local community were particularly complimentary about how the home maintained and encouraged its community ties. This led to the view that the home's staff and people living there was an important part of the community. People said everyone involved benefitted from this approach. These ties included links with churches, schools, community facilities and local businesses.

The home had not received any formal complaints. Any minor issues were dealt with prior to becoming complaints. Everyone said they felt that their views were respected and they could offer feedback on any aspect of the home which would be respected and acted upon.

The registered manager had systems to assess and monitor the quality of the service. The provider also arranged a schedule of 'provider-led' checks which, we noted, had led to changes that improved safety and the well-being of people.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 11 April 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.